Bin Block exterior wall construction? Looking for a wall construction hack for low labor / cost DIY.

I am posting after seeing another thread about using bin blocks for permanent home construction. I wanted to see if I might get a bit more feedback.

This is a Bin Block. They can be purchased in 2'x2'x6' sizes, or I could buy a mold and cast my own... Height: 1 foot 11 5/8 inches, Depth: 11 13/16 inches, Width: 7 feet 10 31/64 inches. These molds come with a panel that allows for creating half blocks. They make a shorter block as well. I think I could create blocks that would allow for making window openings. I am guessing that in NE Ohio that using these, you would still need to use EPS foam board to insulate one side or the other to be at the rated R-value for building codes. You obviously could not run anything inside of a block, unless you cast space inside it to do so. Anything else that comes to mind? It would save all of the labor involved in masons building perfectly pointed CMU walls to do this. On a structure this size that is maybe more than 50K. MY only construction experience was working with a landscape architect, building retaining walls.... lol.



This is the concept of the building. It is one story, 10' tall, has a flat roof, and the front is a glass wall room. I am thinking about how easy it would be to stack these up to create the outer walls of the back half of the house.


This is an outside view from the back.


The front.

I think any labor savings would be eaten up by the cost of materials and the machinery needed to move these blocks.
The same goes for casting them yourself or even casting them in place.

Slip form masonry would better serve your purpose.

You wold have to put reinforcement in the blocks. One would use around 190 l of concrete which equals 2.6 small concrete mixers loaded to the brim.
To make 190 l of 20 MPa (3000 psi) concrete you need:
186 kg of gravel
167 kg of sand
57 kg of portland cement
Assuming you buy sand and aggregate in bulk, it would cost around $30 per block plus $25 rebar (basic cage with stirrups on 16") so at least $55 per block.
One would weigh around 440 kg, so almost 1000 lbs.

Making basic rebar cage would take at least 15 minutes, mixing this amount of concrete, then pouring and vibrating it another 30 minutes. Then removing the forms another 5 minutes.
Lifting it to move to a staging area would need heavy equipment. Placing it on the wall would require even heavier equipment, operated carefully to not kill anyone.
So $55 and almost an hour of work to make it.
It would be equivalent to 12 8x8x16" blocks which cost $24 to $36 depending on location. Mason will lay 10-25 of them in an hour.
Laying small blocks is easier than placing large pieces in the wall even if it seems opposite. I have some architectural granite pieces in my house, weighing 300 to 1700 kg. When you place them you have to use wooden wedges, you can not level the elements by hitting with a tiny hammer - it would not do anything. Then you have to grout the joints. After placing one such an object with a telescoping forklift you realize that 3 hours of your life has passed and with a lot of stress.

Blocks/bricks can be laid one at a time whenever you have time and with no help and no heavy lifts.
If building from concrete it makes sense to either use blocks or build formwork, reinforcement and pour everything with a pump from a concrete truck.
Use of lifting machinery is justified if you lay some beautiful stone or very heavy timber.

How would bin block perform as an exterior wall? Would it require EPS foam board on the inside or outside to get the rated r value for zone 5 here in ohio? If it would all need wrapped in EPS, and stuccoed, it would probably make omniblock better option.  

I will use Farm Credit (thats a bank) for a DIY construction loan. So I am limited in what I can do on the project to what is reasonable for someone who is not a professional mason, electrician, plumber, etc to do.

I understand your point about it being an ordeal to move these and stack them myself. I am thinking that if I were to make them that the labor to hire them stacked would be a fraction of what having the walls done in CMUs by a crew of masons would cost. I have a tractor with a loader that could move them around while casting them. I have looked at other DIY block wall systems, like omniblock, comfort block (CMUs with foam inserts) Faswall, and others. Obviously the cost per SF of these is much higher. Of these it is looking like omniblock. I am guessing that these can be dry-stacked with masonry adhesive by me. The contractor will let me do that kind of labor.

Looking at the drawing I have estimated that the length of the house is around 37 m.
Assuming all walls built from 8x8x16 block, and subtracting the window and door openings it would be around 4600 blocks.
Slow mason will lay 10 per hour, so it's 460 hours. Let's assume he charges $30/h then it's $13.8k plus $10k for blocks. Let's add $700 for vertical rebars (on 32"), $1k concrete for grouting them and $1k for mortar.
You would be his tender. That's the way to do it. If someone is quoting you 50k it means you will be paying for their secretaries, an office in the town, a warehouse and shiny new gas guzzling trucks and it's definitely not cheap.
I don't know how high your tractor loader can reach, but you wold need it to go at least 12 feet to put block on 10' high wall.
I also doubt if anyone will be willing to lay these blocks cheaper than the CMUs.

Regarding some of your questions:

Insulation - if I built in a cold place like Ohio, I would build three wythe wall and the inside I would fill with loose perlite or light perlite concrete. It would be more expensive, but no compromise.
Faswall does not have plastics and the insulation is contained within the block so nice plasters can be used. I can not find the price per block, but I saw $15/sq ft which would make 8x16 block cost $13, so it's a complete monopolist rip off.
Pipes/wires - you just buy a good chaser and cut the grooves in the walls. It's a normal practice in the rest of the world, where masonry is standard.

From a permie's perspective the plan that you shared here is not the most optimal and it increases the cost of building, heating and maintenance:
-bathrooms/kitchen are in different areas of the house, so long sewage/water pipes, sewage vents piercing the roof in many places.
-longitudal shape has high wall to volume ratio - more difficult and expensive to heat
-I would keep garage as separate building, that can be built later
-surrounding glass, if it has to look good, will be probably more expensive than all walls